London Toby looks to win the Grade 1, $135,750 Brad McKinzie Los Alamitos Winter Championship on Sunday for the second consecutive year.

© Los Alamitos

LOS ALAMITOS, CA–FEBRUARY 13, 2025–Trainer Scott Willoughby enters the Los Alamitos Winter Series weekend with a chance to become only the sixth trainer with 100 Quarter Horse stakes wins at the Orange County oval.

Willoughby’s first chance at the milestone comes on Saturday night with Ed Allred’s Norco in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Winter Derby. Then, on Sunday, Willoughby will saddle top contender London Toby in the running of the Grade 1, $135,750 Brad McKinzie Los Alamitos Winter Championship.

Ten top older horses will be in action in this 400-yard event with the winner receiving a presumptive berth to the Grade 1 Champion of Champions on December 13.

Willoughby has trained at Los Alamitos since 1995 with the likes of distance star Streakin Victory as one of his first major stakes winners here. Since then, Willoughby has saddled a slew of Grade 1 stakes winners, including 2019 AQHA World Champion He Looks Hot, the winner of that year’s Champion of Champions.

Allred’s talented 7-year-old gelding London Toby is another of the trainer’s long list of Grade 1 winners, with his most important victory coming in the 2024 running of the Grade 1 Brad McKinzie. The son of Favorite Cartel will now have a chance to become only the third horse to win consecutive runnings of this race with the other two being Apollitical Pence (2022 and 2023) and BH Lisas Boy (2017 and 2018). Gabriel Lara will ride London Toby from post number nine.

Starting from the outside post number 10 will be Reliance Ranches’ Unrelentless, who finished ahead of London Toby when they met in the trials to this race on January 26. Unrelentless has been on a roll at Los Alamitos, winning each of the last three starts, including a pair of stakes victories – the A Ransom Handicap on December 21 and the Town Policy on November 9.

The 4-year-old son of Hes Relentless has always done well in stakes races here, as he was also second in the Grade 1 Golden State Million Futurity in 2013. Trained by Eddie Willis and to be ridden by Justine Klaiber, Unrelentless enters the Brad McKinzie final after posting the fastest qualifying time while crossing the wire a head in front of London Toby.

Bill Price’s homebred BP Cartel Policy enjoyed a big sophomore campaign in 2024 after winning four stakes races, including the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Super Derby and the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Winter Derby. The son of Favorite Cartel won six of eight starts last year but has now lost two in a row after running sixth in the Champion of Champions and second to Parsons Ranch’s Kevins Wise Corona in their Brad McKinzie trial.

Meanwhile, Kevins Wise Corona was outstanding in that trial win, leading from start to finish while hitting the wire ½ length ahead of BP Cartel Policy. A repeat performance will surely make the Paul Jones trainee one of the horses to beat in this race. 

Mauro Zaborowsky’s homebred Edberg Verde, one of the best Brazilian-bred horses of all time, is another horse to watch in this race. He did well in Grade 1 races last year, running third in both the Robert Boniface Los Alamitos Invitational Championship and Go Man Go Handicap.

The field from the rail out is as follows: Beduinos Favorite, Kevins Wise Corona, Jess Being A Friend, Straight And True, Edberg Verde, Tempting Barbie, BP Cartel Policy, Scoops Dynasty, London Toby, and Unrelentless. Jess Good Wine was in the original list of qualifiers but has since been placed on the stewards’ list and is ineligible to start.

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